Starcrossed & Earthbound
by luna-genev
Summary: How Peridot came to meet Lapis. Peridot is frustrated to have to return to Homeworld after her failure to reach Kindergarten, and now she is summoned to see a prisoner that apparently came from that same Earth... how can she handle this alone?
1. Chapter 1: Assignment

**A/N:** My friend on Tumblr, ask-onyxrose gave me this prompt for a drabble. I'm sorta satisfied with how canon it sounds! If people like this story, I may add more chapters. Reviews really matter!

* * *

Back in her offplanet Homeworld megacomplex compartment, Peridot tried to get her bearings.

It was a tiny, cramped room by average gem standards - full of equipment, badly ventilated, and only going up as high as the doorway itself - but this space accommodated the scout well. Lit dimly with a gemlike glow coming from an opening in the ceiling, it was replete with the noises of crashing metal.

She dug through her storage banks to find several flasks of robonoid juice, then went to searching for her electronic tools. Under her breath she muttered, habitually flustered. "Damn this Earth mission... they've got me running back and forth, rebuilding everything..." She pried free an electrostimulus cord from its socket. "Nobody even wants to help me. You'd think - ugh! - they'd send more gems if it was at all important. Why did they send anyone in the first place!? I have _level A clearance - -_ "

"Sergeant Peridot 2F5L-5xG."

"Huh!" The green gem turned, startled, to find a class 2.4 Selenite in her doorway.

"I have come to deliver intelligence that a Lapis Lazuli was recieved at one of the loading docks." The Selenite stood with her arms clasped behind her back respectfully, reciting data from a portable infoscreen.

"Go on... what does this have to do with me?"

"The Lapis came from Earth. You are designated to meet with Imperial Topaz in three-point-oh time-units to resolve the matter."

"... What?"

The Selenite closed her eyes. "That is all." Then her eyes flashed open, with white light and a new task to execute.

Peridot watched the messenger hurry away down the corridor. "Ugh, dusty cruddy shards! Clods!" She kicked an infoceiver sharply, and nearly dislodged her ambulatory limb enhancer. "Ack! .. _.Clods!_ "

At precisely 56:00 time-units, Peridot warped into the executive wing of the megacomplex. She'd polished her limb enhancers till they reflected the steely hallways and neon lights. She'd even set aside some time to rake her touch stubs through her hair, and form it into a perfect seamless triangle. There was no other option, than to look her best for the Commander of this database.

She had no time to prepare a dialogue. The massive door split in the center and melted, magma yellow, into the archway.

"Peridot 143." Topaz's severe voice filled the room and took seconds to die out, clamoring at the walls and bouncing into the high ceiling. The commander had draped herself over her throne, amidst a storm of infoscreens.

Hers was a curvaceous and severe figure, draped in a seamless curtain of burnt orange hair. She didn't even need any enhancement-tech to be ten feet tall. The four-cut, five facet gem in her forehead flashed like a solar flare, as her chin lifted and her gaze settled before her. "2F5L. Cut 5, xG."

"Yes, your luminescence." Peridot stepped inside and knelt, her own forehead gem centimeters from the floor.

The towering auburn gem glared down her pointed nose. "Rise. I have no time to waste on formalities."

"Uh- -" Shooting upwards, Peridot directed her attention zealously at her superior.

"This Lapis was brought to me from Earth - the same place to which you were dispatched recently." With a simple gesture, Topaz summoned a cage from behind her throne to drift forward into view. It was made of panels of antimatter: such that could destroy a gem's physical form. Inside, a dainty blue gem was chained, by her neck and limbs, bent awkwardly into a curled position so that her teardrop gem was exposed upward. Her dress was in tatters, and she was riddled with bruises. She screamed almost noiselessly at the ground, struggling against her constraints. The sounds were muffled - and dreadful.

"Peridot-143. Exactly how many other gems are on Earth?"

The chartreuse gem could barely speak - her lips trembled, her throat suddenly became dry. Topaz rose from her seat and stepped forward with enough force to crush any lesser gemstone to small pieces.

"Peridot!"

"Forgive me! I do not know what gems are present on that planet, at the moment-"

"How have you not ascertained this data?!" Her veil of calm had rapidly vanished, while the infoscreens behind her frenzied with activity; incoming messages.  
"I have no excuse, Sergeant! The Redeye data collector we deployed reported no gems are present as of this star cycle! And in the time that I have been surveying that planet, I have found no conclusive evidence as to what creature defiled the last active warp pads -"

"What?" Topaz' eyes viciously narrowed; her lip curled.

Peridot gulped. "My robonoids repaired the main warp channel. Once I arrived there over the stream, I found a strange symbol attached to the side with sticky adhesive!" She was on her knees, shouting to be heard above the echoes of the room. "Not long after, the main warp went down _again._ Whatever is there, has been destroying my robonoids! Whenever I take inventory, less than twenty-percent return from their data recovery missions!"

"I thought these native... _'humans'_ were weak. Do you think they broke the warp pads?" She didn't wait for an answer, but it looked as though Peridot couldn't speak much anyhow.

Topaz turned sharply away, a look of pained displeasure in her eyes. "You know what you need to do. See that it's done quickly."

" _Your Radiance-_ "

"Take this as your informant." She shoved the floating cage toward Peridot, who caught it in her own electric force stream. "Round up whatever remains of that stupid rebellion, and reactivate the primary Kindergarten! GO!"

Peridot clambered to the executive warp in a panic, dragging the cage with her. As soon as they both were on, she activated the warp and teleported out.

* * *

The echoes of Imperial Topaz' shrill voice were still in her head as she found her bearings in the warp stream. Trying to relax her nerves, she turned toward the prisoner, who was still hunched over in her shackles. Only now it was silent. She stared at the blue gem in the captive's back, surveyed her slight frame.

"Why were you on Earth?" Peridot narrowed her eyes, then turned the cage around so that they faced each other.

No answer came. The lapis hung with her filthy bangs covering her eyes, and made not a single noise.

"How did you escape? Did you use the warp system?"

Still nothing. "Not gonna talk, huh?" She crossed her arms and scowled at the cage. An idea dawned on her. "What if I get you _out_ of that cage? Will you talk then?"

She may have imagined it, but Peridot seemed to recognize a glimmer of interest in the prisoner's face.

Back in her storage cell, Peridot blew the dust off her frequency dispelling transmitter. "Here goes."

She flicked a tiny switch, and a short, deafening explosion of sound and prickling electricity came from the device. The cage flickered and then fell apart, its hinges that had held it together clattering to the floor. Its occupant fell to her knees, then collapsed on her side. Peridot stared.

The corner of her mouth twitched as she watched the lapis lying facedown, breathing shallowly. Her resolve was quickly wearing away.

There was a clattering from the corner of the room as Peridot began digging through her things again. In a moment she emerged with a clear flask of robonoid fluid. She took small steps toward the prisoner, then closed the sliding door to her compartment. Kneeling, she came right to the captive's side, then nudged her with a single floating finger.

The lapis moaned. Peridot hesitated, then prodded her again. Lapis turned over, and looked up with dark, exhausted eyes. Tears ran off the side of her face and dripped to the steel floor.

"Here." Peridot set down the vial. "It only works on electronics, for healing purposes. But it's... cool. Cool and smooth. Rub it on your skin."

After a few seconds of quiet, The green gem rose to her feet and clomped back over to her storage units, and started retrieving the parts for a spare arm enhancer blast cell. She might need one for this next mission.

Only after the gem left her side, did Lapis let her eyes move. She looked blankly at the vial, at its blurry, formless shape skewed by tears. A blotch of mint green surrounded by shining glass and stoppered with a triangular spike.

Lapis slowly extended her shaking hand, and took the vial, uncorked it. Spreading the goo on her inflamed wrists, she concentrated on relief.

Peridot glanced over her shoulder, to find that the lapis was applying the robo- fluid to her burns and scratches. Something strange happened for a second - she thought she felt her gem glowing. " _Eugh..._ "

Shuddering, she shrugged it off as she went back to her preparations.

* * *

 **A/N:** Did you like it? The Only way I'll Ever Know is if you Favorite or Review! Preferably both!

Thank you so much for reading. I think I wanna do an introduction story with Jasper too.


	2. Chapter 2: Status Check

**A/N:** Imma try to continue this and fill in all the gaps in the homeworld gems' arc! it's a tall order... but i gotta have tall ambitions. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

It's valentine's day and i'm feeling shippy. whatever. I hope you like it!

* * *

In the dim light, Peridot stared at her hands and blinked. Delicate, stubby fingers on arms too short. Disgraceful. As much as she prided herself for climbing the ranks, for attaining such an honorable place despite her smaller-than-average size... her ego still left _so_ much to be desired.

She'd locked the lapis in the main room of her personal compartment. The prisoner gem still moved very little, even after several timecycles had passed - several orbits made around the center of the off-planet Yellow Authority megacomplex. Since Peridot had brought the tattered blue gem back to her room, she'd done seldom more than crouch in the corner. Her eyes flickered over the elements of her surroundings - the smoothly glowing lights; the tri-diamond insignias on the floor panels; the floating weapons, grotesque clusters of gems in lime bubbles, and machinery parts suspended in motion all over the room. She pulled her knees close and hugged them; pressed her forehead down, and she could pretend she was back in the Homeworld she remembered.

Peridot would never let a gem lay eyes on her without her limb enhancers if she could help it - not even the decrepit prisoner she'd been forced to share her living quarters with. Here, in the tiny communications room, she'd unsnapped the metal limbs, and now sat massaging her sore elbows and knees. There was a strange, _ghostly_ sensation that came with doing this - she could almost feel the missing extensions, though they were gone. When she wiggled her fingers, she seemed to sense the disembodied touch-stubs in the empty air before her.

 _"BEEP-BEEP. Incoming message for PERIDOT-2F5L-5xG. BEEP-BEEP."_

Peridot nearly jumped out of her holographic skin as her Complex Message Transmitter came on with a metallic twang. _This better not be the boss..._ A prickle shot down her throat as she realized how much precious time she'd wasted already. Fumbling with her limb enhancers, she reattached her false arms with a sharp hiss of steam, and slammed a fist on the screen that had appeared. The noise ceased, and Chrysocolla flickered into view. Two of her arms tapped at control screens, while another hand lifted to remove her visor.

The glare she gave her subordinate made Peridot stand pin-straight without stopping to think. She saluted her manager immediately, wide-eyed and attentive. The yellow diamond stood in stark contrast against Chrysocolla's dark teal skin, as she reciprocated the salute, her hands framing the shape.

"2F5L."

"Yes!" she clasped her hands behind her back, awkwardly interlacing her floating fingers.

"Commander Imperial Topaz has ordered a thorough status check on the Earth's communication hubs. Get to it."

Peridot couldn't stop an exasperated growl from escaping her throat, but she coughed it off. "Chrysocolla, forgive me, but I performed a status check merely two time-cycles ago!"

Chrysocolla stopped tapping at the screens and gave her Peridot another, even more fiery glare. Her message was clear and familiar: _Peridots may **not** talk back to their Managers._

"Understood, your botryoidance!" While she saluted once again, Peridot wiped a bead of sweat from her cheek. The Manager raised a hand over the communicator screen and the image flickered out.

As she clambered into her leg extenders, Peridot grumbled her annoyance. "Topaz thinks she knows how to evaluate a planet... yeaah, _right!_ She's a big old _clod_ , is what she is."

* * *

Absolutely nothing had changed on Earth, from what she could see from the archaic communication screens and old gem tech. They were still completely functional... if not utterly banal. The task was three times more boring each time she repeated it. Earth didn't seem to offer much, and she couldn't quite see what Topaz was so concerned about. Peridot was about to go back there anyway... or perhaps she should have left _already._ The planet _was_ a ticking time bomb...

Peridot was about to close down the planet surveillance equipment, when she noticed a robonoid update had appeared at the bottom of her screen. She clicked on it, and read that one of the plug robonoids had reached the Primary Kindergarten's control and research base. Her eyes widened. _Topaz would be pleased to hear this, for sure!_

But first, documentation was needed. She fiddled with the communication channels until it detected a signal coming from beneath Kindergarten. "Gotcha."

Peridot brought up the visual screen using her gem. The room appeared clean and dark, and she turned on the auditory log device in her arm panel.

"Established gem projection link with control room. Plug robonoid has succesfully landed on planet Earth and entered Prime Kindergarten Control Room in Facet Five. Will proceed to perform status check of Kindergarten..." She turned the screen and checked on the panels, then scanned through the data logs. _Wow... so much useful information._ Peridot was stirred to actually see how many fusion experiments had been conducted here. She'd only read and researched their history before, but seeing them all here together was terrific. In a quiet, piercing way.

"Now accounting for all operational injectors." She activated the local hand control devices and lifted them toward the ceiling. "Checking for aberrations in perimeter." The controls were terribly simple to use.

"Hh. This gem tech is simply archaic..." Columns of soil began to sift down - hopefully some of the experiments had incubated long enough to take on a physical form.

"I dunno. I think it looks pretty cool."

Peridot froze. _Whose voice was that?!_ She dropped the hand tools and searched frantically with her vision screen. Right in the entrance to the control room stood a tiny, rather round creature. Peridot was silent.

The thing spoke again. "Hi! I'm Steven."

Her brow knitted, Peridot brought up her personal infoscreen. _Was this creature documented?_

She realized she was still recording. "There appears to be an infestation of... S _tevens_ , in the Kindergarten." Perhaps this was the primary life-form on Earth. An annoyance at best.

"Aww, I'm not so bad once you get to know me!" The Steven was smiling goofily up at her.

"And how many more ' _stevens'_ are present in this area?" She glanced around warily.

"Oh. Just me."

"Eh... that's a relief. So, tell me. Have _'stevens'_ replaced humans as the dominant species on Earth?"

"Oh no, there's lots of humans. There's my dad, Connie, Lars and Sadie, the mail man, Onion... i think. There's lots of people!"

"Hm." These _humans_ probably wouldn't be pleased with what would soon happen to their planet.

"Now I get to ask a question. What are _you_ doing?" the Steven asked smugly, pointing. _Ugh._

"Hm? Just picking up where we left off." She raised a fist above the annoyance and prepared to let it fall and crush him. Thankfully humans were pathetically weak...

A shiver ran over Peridot. Where was the noise of the creature's life being snuffed out? She swiveled the screen around. The fist had stopped dead several feet from the ground. Underneath it, a reddish lifeform held it up and let the Steven escape. The screen detected a gem presence and targeted two of them in the creature's palms.

Shit. "A gem!"

Suddenly two other gems hopped into view, scowling up at the screen.

"Ugh! More?! But the Red-Eye didn't report the presence of any gem on this planet!" Terror was slowly overcoming her. Topaz would be furious... and this certainly meant another mission back.

A twiggy gem shouted, and Peridot zoomed in on her. "That's because we destroyed it!"

No way. "You what!?" Waves of panic washed over her as she searched her infoscreen. "But - the records say gems were _wiped out_ on Earth!" It was beginning to make sense - the missing research equipment; the lapis randomly surfacing from what was assumed a planet devoid of gem activity.

"Wait a minute. You're the ones that have been destroying my plug robonoids! Are you the reason the Homeworld warp is down _AGAIN_?" She pulled her infoscreen forth, and summoned the picture of the symbol she'd found attached to the side of the warp pad. "Is this your bizarre icon?! Urrrgh...!" Peridot glared at them, her nose millimeters from the screen. _"Why do you keep destroying my stuff?!"_

The stringy gem shouted even louder this time, and brandished a spear toward the screen. "Because we are the _Crystal Gems!_ We're still alive, and we're _still_ the guardians of this planet and _all of its living creatures!_ "

Peridot stared at the spear, trying to calm down and make sense of this. _A group - rebels?_ The name was vaguely familiar.

"The... _Crystal gems?_ "

Without warning the three gems sprung forth, their weapons aimed at the control devices. "Agh, stop! How dare you!" she pulled the floating hands out of their reach; her real hands were trembling inside their enhancers. "I'll do this one way or another. You're just making it really difficult!" she screamed as the short one and the fusion smashed one of the hands to pieces. Before she could think of some way to remotely destroy them, they had sent the other fist careening into the power source with a tremendous crash.

"I'm reporting this!" Peridot just managed to say before the screen went dark.

She hung her head for a moment, then lifted a fist of green fingers and slammed it down on the Earth communications device.

"Rruaaaagh! _Clods!_ "

* * *

There was a quiet knock at the door, and she swung around angrily, fists balled up. Teeth clenched.

When the door slid up into the ceiling, she found the lapis standing there. _Standing._

"I didn't know you could walk," Peridot sneered.

Lapis wiped her nose with a forearm. "Something wrong?" Her voice was tiny; gravelly from disuse.

"How did you know?" She stormed into the main room, and began walking in circles. _What was she to do?_ There was no way she could eliminate these hostile strays on her own. And she had a _very_ pressing time constraint.

"Imperial Topaz said you were going to use me to get information about Earth." She backed into the corner once again and slid down against the frigid steel of the wall.

"Huh. That's right." Peridot grumbled, not bothering to look at the prisoner. "You don't happen to recognize the term _'Crystal Gems'_ , do you?"

There was no response. After a moment the flustered gem stopped pacing and looked quizzically at the lazuli; her bangs cast a black shadow over her eyes. She kept walking. _To do this alone... armed with only her limbs and her bots, and dragging along this useless prisoner ... surely there was some way Chrysocolla could allow her more assets?_

"Why haven't we left yet?"

Peridot glared at Lapis, beginning to lose her composure - but the informant was slumped in the corner, nearly limp, and didn't see.

After a minute's tense consideration, Peridot went over to the prisoner and stiffly sat down opposite her. The lapis was motionless; didn't look up. Didn't speak. Still Peridot stared through her bangs, trying to reach her.

"I am your superior. You must listen to what I say, no questions asked! _Okay?_ "

Still not a response.

"Okay then. I'll sit here until you're ready to talk." Her fingers were curled over her knees, feeling the border between her real legs and the dead metal of her enhancers. She'd been this way for most of her life - short as it was - but she felt she wasn't herself without the technology that propped her up. Her enhancers were a symbol of status among her class. A trophy; a priceless set of tools, and an indirect gift from _Yellow Diamond herself_. Only Peridots fit to serve _the cause_ were given these. Yes... things were better this way.

"I never saw a forced fusion in Blue Diamond's court."

Lapis's sudden remark brought Peridot back to the present. Her gaze turned to her face; noted the gem's shadowy eyes, her appearance modifiers still grungy and tattered.

"You belonged to her _court?_ "

Lapis nodded slowly, her eyes cast downward. "She was gracious to us. It was so peaceful there..." Her eyes were cloudy, overcast with something tragic that Peridot couldn't see. "Things are probably different there too."

"Different how?"

"I was stranded on Earth for so long. I didn't realize that things had changed this much while I was... _trapped._ " Her slender, tapered fingers were playing with the frayed ends of the ribbon around her neck. Peridot watched them, mesmerized.

"Well. You must know that our progress, our politics and our technological advances have led to the most prosperous era yet in gem history. Things are much, _much_ _better_ now!"

When Peridot said 'better', Lapis curled in on herself.

"You'll probably be allowed to go back." Lapis looked up as Peridot spoke. "I mean, once you're done being my informant and we don't need you. Topaz'll probably release you back to Blue Diamond's domain. They probably... miss you." If the lazuli was telling the truth, she must be very valuable in some way.

The bruised gem brought her eyes back to her lap. "That would be nice. I don't think they want me, though."

 _What was this - what was happening in Peridot's mind? **Feelings?!**_

"There's someplace you belong. I know it." She could hardly tell what she was saying, but it seemed factual _._ Peridot belonged here. Even if her work was difficult, it felt _so_ important to be needed. She... _thought_ she was needed.

Peridot glanced back at Lapis - and she swore she could see a smile appear there, then fade away.

* * *

A/N: **If you read this, please tell me what you think in a review! _Thanks!_**

 ** _Up Next: Lapis reveals more about her past. Peridot shows Lapis all the glory of her society, and tries to get a quartz escort and a better ship to take along with her._**


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